Monday, December 31, 2012

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Please note: I read and reviewed this book in May 2011, shortly before joining Goodreads. I'm updating the review for my current formatting and to add a disclosure.

Disclosure: I received an ARC copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Magical realismReading level: Young Adult

My synopsis: Young Jacob Portman was close to his grandfather, loving the stories his grandfather told of his childhood in Wales - the magically beautiful house, the other children ... and that they were all "peculiar." One could levitate; one was invisible, others had other talents. Jacob believed these stories until he was bullied about them at school when he was about 7, then announced he no longer believed in them and his grandfather never brought it up again.

However, when Jacob is 16 he finds his grandfather horribly murdered - and sees something in the forest that haunts him. An evil-looking creature, just like those his grandfather used to describe from his youth - the monsters that drove Grandpa Portman from his home. Unable to resolve his feelings of guilt and grief, Jacob and his father travel to Wales to try to find the children's home, in hopes that finding it and talking to people from his grandfather's past he will be able to finally resolve his feelings.

However, once in the small town on a Welsh island, few people know what he is talking about - finally he finds someone who has heard of the house and gives him directions, but he finds only a run-down, bombed-out house that was apparently destroyed in World War II. While looking around, however, he finds a trunk of pictures, which he shoves down the stairs in order to break into it. The floor actually breaks and the trunk falls into the basement, and while down there he hears the voices ... of children ...

My thoughts: What happens next .. you'll have to find out for yourself. "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is an amazing piece of magical reality, however, and I don't think you will end up being disappointed in reading it. One unusual thing about this book is the use of pictures throughout - something that isn't seen much in fiction anymore. These pictures document some of the people in the book. Sadly, because my copy was an ARC, I was not able to see them all. I plan to eventually pick up a final copy of this book so I can see them all.

I highly recommend it and hope you will take my advice and buy this book - the sooner the better!